wuthering heights
-by the novel's end, catherine and nelly end up imprisoned in the house. linton is sickly and feeble, very influenced by heathcliff and willing to sacrifice catherine —> in the end though linton is the one who lets catherine out of her room to talk to her father one last time (he still has no real character though). hareton embraces his uncivilized upbringing (swears constantly and is encouraged by heathcliff), he grabs catherine's hair when she come to the heights like a child. this is b/c heathcliff ruins hareton, doesn't appreciate nelly and was labeled as a satanic character by one of bronte's sisters (also labeled emily's book as "great art")
frankenstein
-1819 & 1831 were years of 1st and 2nd edition of the book (huge differences b/t the 2, many prefer the earlier version). the character of walton gives up trying to become homer after just 1 year (wants his name to be remembered, not to be a great writer). and so, the novel starts off thru series of letters written by walton to his sister. walton and his group gets stranded on their ship in the middle of icy region and they discover a sickly victor, who begins to tell his story on the creation of his monster to walton. victor is motivated to tell walton his story b/c
of what we see in letter 4, 2nd paragraph near beginning of novel, " ... unhappy man, do you share my madness?" quote pulled from 1831 edition. victor saw the same madness in walton's eyes as in his own. victor and walton both share the same madness in wanting so badly to become famous and to leave a legacy (victor's story to walton is therefore a cautionary tale so walton does not make the same mistakes)
-sidenote, as for percy shelley, he wrote some of the best poetry in the english language, his novels however do not compare (especially to his wife's).
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